Unlikely Collaborators Spark Salon: Is Imagination Real?

What if imagination is one of the most powerful forces shaping your reality?

Join Elizabeth R. Koch as she moderates a conversation with Cassandra Vieten, PhD, Jonathan Schooler, PhD, and Stephen Asma, PhD, on the science of imagination and its extraordinary role in how we experience ourselves and the world around us.

Far more than creativity or fantasy, imagination influences how we perceive reality, construct meaning, make decisions, solve problems, build relationships, and envision the future. It helps shape the stories we tell ourselves, the possibilities we can see, and the lives we ultimately create.

Drawing from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, mindfulness, and consciousness research, this conversation explores imagination as a fundamental human capacity that expands resilience, fuels innovation, deepens empathy, and opens the door to new ways of seeing.

Together, the panel will invite us to reconsider imagination not as an escape from reality but as one of the primary ways we make sense of it, and how understanding this remarkable capacity can help us expand the walls our Perception Box. 

5:00 p.m.: Doors open, reception
6:00 p.m.: Program begins promptly, doors close no late admittance
7:00 p.m.: Book signing and reception

Prior to the event you will receive an email from Unlikely Collaborators’ building registration system (coming from: [email protected]) to confirm your attendance and to offer pre-check in for the event. During the in-person check in process each attendee will be required to:

• Present a government-issued ID
• Take a photo for the building registration system
• Review and sign a general liability waiver and a house rules agreement (can be completed during pre-check in)
• Wear an event badge that displays your first name

No exceptions.

Attendance is complimentary, full and completed registration is required. Admission is granted on a first come, first served basis until capacity is reached. Doors open at 4:00pm and close promptly at 5:00pm. Late entry is not permitted as the event is being filmed and livestreamed.

Attendance is limited to individuals aged 16 and older.
No pets allowed (except for service animals), no outside food or beverages allowed.

Cassandra Vieten is the author of the forthcoming book Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination. (Releasing August 11)

Stephen Asma is the author of The Evolution of Imagination.